Monday, January 7, 2013

This Day in History: Jan 7, 1789: First U.S. presidential election

On this day in 1789, America's first presidential
election is held. Voters cast ballots to choose state electors; only
white men who owned property were allowed to vote. As expected, George Washington won the election and was sworn into office on April 30, 1789.

As it did in 1789, the United States still uses the Electoral College system, established by the U.S. Constitution,
which today gives all American citizens over the age of 18 the right to
vote for electors, who in turn vote for the president. The president
and vice president are the only elected federal officials chosen by the
Electoral College instead of by direct popular vote.

Today political parties usually nominate their slate of electors at
their state conventions or by a vote of the party's central state
committee, with party loyalists often being picked for the job. Members
of the U.S. Congress, though, can’t be electors. Each state is allowed
to choose as many electors as it has senators and representatives in
Congress. The District of Columbia has 3 electors. During a presidential
election year, on Election Day (the first Tuesday after the first
Monday in November), the electors from the party that gets the most
popular votes are elected in a winner-take-all-system, with the
exception of Maine and Nebraska,
which allocate electors proportionally. In order to win the presidency,
a candidate needs a majority of 270 electoral votes out of a possible
538.

On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December of a
presidential election year, each state's electors meet, usually in their
state capitol, and simultaneously cast their ballots nationwide. This
is largely ceremonial: Because electors nearly always vote with their
party, presidential elections
are essentially decided on Election Day. Although electors aren't
constitutionally mandated to vote for the winner of the popular vote in
their state, it is demanded by tradition and required by law in 26
states and the District of Columbia (in some states, violating this rule
is punishable by $1,000 fine). Historically, over 99 percent of all
electors have cast their ballots in line with the voters. On January 6,
as a formality, the electoral votes are counted before Congress and on
January 20, the commander in chief is sworn into office.

Critics of the Electoral College argue that the winner-take-all
system makes it possible for a candidate to be elected president even if
he gets fewer popular votes than his opponent. This happened in the elections of 1876,
1888 and 2000. However, supporters contend that if the Electoral
College were done away with, heavily populated states such as California and Texas might decide every election and issues important to voters in smaller states would be ignored.